Does video show Chinese protesters tearing down 5G masts? Fact Check
A video claims to show people in China tearing down 5G masts amid claims that the cellular technology is causing the 2019 novel coronavirus pandemic.
FALSE
The video has been spread by a number of high profile social media accounts, including the Instagram account of actor Woody Harreslon.
Plenty of conspiracy theories have circulated during the coronavirus pandemic. One such prolific theory claims 5G masts and towers are responsible for people contracting the disease, either by infecting people directly or by weakening their immune system thereby exacerbating the spread of the disease.
5G has long been a target in the conspiracy world, often baselessly attributed to causing medical ailments such as cancer and impotency. And it is true that in the UK, several 5G masts were vandalised, likely as a result of such conspiracies, which we reported on here.
However, the video claiming to show Chinese residents tearing down 5G masts amid the coronavirus pandemic is false.
While the video does show Chinese protesters razing masts, it is actually from August 2019, a handful of months before the coronavirus pandemic started. And the masts were not 5G, rather they were deemed to be “surveillance masts”, and were torn down during an anti-surveillance demonstration in Hong Kong.
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According to media reports at the time, the masts were targeted because they contained CCTV and data sensors. Such reports did not mention 5G.
As such, we rank the claim that this shows Chinese protesters targeting 5G masts amid conspiracies that they caused the coronavirus as false. The video has been taken out of context.